Due to advances in computing technology, businesses today are able to operate more efficiently when compared to substantially similar businesses only a few years ago. For example, networking enables employees of a company to communicate instantaneously by email, quickly transfer data files to disparate employees, manipulate data files, share data relevant to a project to reduce duplications in work product, etc. Furthermore, advancements in technology have enabled factory applications to become partially or completely automated. For instance, operations that once required workers to put themselves proximate to heavy machinery and other various hazardous conditions can now be completed at a safe distance therefrom.
Further, imperfections associated with human action have been minimized through employment of highly precise machines. Many of these factory devices supply data related to manufacturing to databases or web services referencing databases that are accessible by system/process/project managers on a factory floor. For instance, sensors and associated software can detect a number of instances that a particular machine has completed an operation given a defined amount of time. Further, data from sensors can be delivered to a processing unit related to system alarms. Utilizing such data, industrial applications are now becoming partially and/or completely automated.
While various advancements have been made with respect to automating an industrial process, utilization and design of controllers has been largely unchanged. In more detail, industrial controllers have been designed to efficiently undertake real-time control. For instance, conventional industrial controllers receive data from sensors and, based upon the received data, control an actuator, drive, or the like. These controllers recognize a source and/or destination of the data by way of a symbol and/or address associated with source and/or destination. More particularly, industrial controllers include communications ports and/or adaptors, and sensors, actuators, drives, and the like are communicatively coupled to such ports/adaptors. Thus, a controller can recognize device identify when data is received and further deliver control data to an appropriate device.
Controllers can additionally generate a significant amount of data relating to a process. For example, controllers output statuses of sensors, drives, actuators, and the like. Further, scheduling data can be output from the controller, which may be indicative of how a work order is proceeding through an industrial factory, whether additional work orders may be accepted, and the like. Moreover, alarm data can be generated and output at a controller, events leading up to the alarm as experienced by the controller, and other suitable data can be generated and output by the controller.
Oftentimes, data from controllers is analyzed to determine a source of a problem, to determine scheduling information, and the like. Conventionally, however, controllers are fitted with a small amount of data storage (e.g., in the order of two gigabytes). If data is desirably retained beyond the two gigabytes, an operator or operators must determine which data is desirably kept for a long period of time, and the remainder of the data is deleted. Thus, for instance, if it is desirable to monitor data for scheduling, scheduling data for such controller can be retained within local storage of the controller until storage capacity is reached while other data is deleted. After a certain amount of time passes or when storage capacity of the controller is reached, data from the controller can be archived. If data is desirable analyzed, then such analysis is performed with respect to data within a particular controller.